Testifying so as not to forget: education about the Khmer Rouge genocide enters Cambodian classrooms

In a high school in Sa-ang, Kandal province, dozens of students recently experienced an extraordinary learning activity. Gathered for an educational forum dedicated to the history of Democratic Kampuchea (1975–1979), they attended a screening of the documentary First Witness — a powerful film that gives voice to survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime. A rare initiative, but more necessary than ever.

A past that the youth must know

Between 1975 and 1979, the regime of Pol Pot caused the deaths of around two million Cambodians — nearly a quarter of the population — through executions, starvation, and forced labor conditions. Yet for many young Cambodians today, this period remains vague or even unknown. It is precisely this memory gap that the forum organized at Sa-ang High School sought to bridge.

The classroom as a space of memory

The chosen format — a combination of open classroom discussion and film screening — proved particularly effective. First Witness does more than present historical facts: it highlights direct testimonies, faces, and voices that break the abstraction of numbers. For many students, it was the first time they had heard a survivor describe, in their own words, what it meant to live under the Angkar.

The discussions that followed the screening allowed students to ask questions, express their emotions, and confront their knowledge with documented historical reality. Teachers and facilitators guided these conversations with sensitivity, ensuring that memory would serve not to rekindle hatred, but to cultivate resilience and civic engagement.

Genocide education, a national priority

This type of initiative is part of a broader effort to integrate genocide education into the Cambodian school curriculum. Organizations such as the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-Cam) have worked for years to produce appropriate teaching materials, train educators, and encourage schools to address this painful chapter in a structured and compassionate way.

The Sa-ang event shows that this approach is bearing fruit. When history is no longer just a textbook passage but a shared human experience in the classroom, it becomes alive — and transformative.

Never forget, so as never to repeat

At a time when direct witnesses of the genocide are aging and passing away, passing on their memory to the digital generation is an urgent challenge. Forums like the one at Sa-ang High School show that it is possible to meet this challenge with intelligence and humanity — by turning every classroom into a space of truth, respect, and hope.

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This maxim, often cited in memorial museums around the world, resonates with particular force in Cambodia. And it is in the eyes of these Sa-ang students — shaken but awakened — that the promise of a different future resides.